Kosher products - what is it?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

You have met your old friend whom you have not seen for a thousand years, and to celebrate, you invited him to a dinner party at your house. Fine! Yes, this is what to treat an honored guest if he is a Jew? Setting the table with the usual grandeur for the Russian soul is not a problem, but it will be extremely unpleasant if your treats are left untouched.

You probably know that in the "avid" Jewish families only kosher products are used. What is it - you probably also heard. "Kosher" means "pure" or "correct". So, how to properly set the table and how to treat your friend and his family with delicious treats?

Pork

The first thing that comes to mind is not to cook pork. Jews do not eat pork, because this animal does not live in the best sanitary conditions, eats slop and sleeps in mud. How can such meat be considered “clean”? You will be surprised to know that this is not entirely true. Even if you raise a pig in the purest of conditions, take him to the shower several times a day, regale him with the best products from your table and put him to sleep on satin sheets, his meat will never become “clean” even on gram. Equally sothe same as sheep meat (and it is believed that this is exactly kosher products), it may not be kosher.

We are so different

Many have heard that kosher food is what the rabbi has blessed, and it must be prepared exclusively by the hands of a Jew. If you think like that, then you are not destined to cook kosher food at all. After all, you are not a Jew, much less a rabbi. That is, if you buy the best piece of the “purest” product in a Jewish shop, bring it to your home, cut it beautifully on a plate, you will get a far from kosher treat. That's bad luck.

In fact, each person determines for himself the degree of "rigor". And if your friend is of Jewish blood, this does not mean at all that a joint dinner is doomed to failure. If he accepted your invitation, it means to be kind. But still, you should know a little about what kosher products are and what features they have.

Religion

In order to determine what kosher products are, let's turn to where there are answers to all worldly questions - to the Holy Scriptures. It was it that served as the soil for the growth of the great kosher tree. What does it say?

The Old Testament (Leviticus, chapter 11) will help us understand the essence. In it, the Lord gives clear instructions to Moses and Aaron about what can be eaten and what is bad. So, you can eat the meat of animals that have cloven hooves with a deep cut and chew gum. That is, these are artiodactyls that feed on grass. But hereyou need to be careful: a camel, for example, chews the cud, but its hooves do not have a deep cut, therefore it is eliminated from the kosher list. Just like a pig: although it has paired hooves, it does not chew the cud (so that's the pig's secret).

This list is quite extensive, and we will return to it later. And now let's dwell a little on how the products are separated according to ritual purity. Parve, clubs and kosher products - what is it?

Kosher, clubs and parve

It's not so easy with blessed food. Not only must it be religiously permitted to be eaten, but it must also be properly prepared, and certain foods must not be mixed.

Kosher meat products are the front part of the carcass of a legal animal that has been properly slaughtered and skinned. The process should be minimally painful, and a special person, a sheikh, cuts the living creatures. Also, the meat must be completely free of blood. This also applies to birds.

Clubs (not kosher products) - what is it? It is forbidden food, or food that has been improperly prepared, cooked, or has lost its “purity” due to improper storage. For example, it's not properly slaughtered sheep, or veal hindquarters, or a sausage and cheese sandwich. Dairy products and meat must not be mixed!

Parev is a food that is neither meat nor milk (eggs, vegetables). Moreover, from pairs (orparve) cannot be cooked using dishes that were previously used for cooking meat or dairy dishes, otherwise they will become clubs. But they can be eaten with meat or dairy products - this is not forbidden.

Milk and meat

The Holy Scripture says: "Do not boil a goat in its mother's milk." Therefore, it is absolutely impossible to mix these types of products. You can’t even cook them using the same dishes, wash them in the same sink. Jewish families use different kitchen utensils, and if there is only one washbasin in the family, then the dishes are washed in different basins. But at the same time, such products can be stored in the same refrigerator.

It is unacceptable to combine these two types of product in one dish. And you can eat only after a certain period of time. After taking milk, meat can be eaten only after 2 hours. If the meat was eaten first, then you need to wait 6 hours and only after that eat dairy products.

Kosher food

The list of prohibited and permitted foods can be made truly endless. But we will dwell a little on what kosher products are most often eaten and are available for sale.

Meat and poultry

Goat, lamb, bovine meat, venison and other game as prescribed. Poultry: goose, duck, chicken, turkey, quail, dove, pheasant.

Seafood and fish

You can only eat fish with fins and scales, but you can't eat seafood. Allowed include: herring, sprat, halibut, pike, mackerel, salmon,sardine, flounder, tuna, perch, cod and carp. In general, all species that fit the description, but the catfish is not a "clean" fish.

Alcoholic

Kosher wine can only be made by a Jew. But vodka belongs to parva (only not milk-based).

Kosher food in Russia

Jews are the people that can be found in every corner of our planet. Therefore, kosher products in Russia are provided in a wide range. You can buy it in specialized stores, at synagogues, and sometimes Jewish communities sell it. If it is up to you to welcome such unusual guests into your home, give preference to neutral products. These are fruits, vegetables, cereals, pasta and eggs - you can buy them everywhere. But for the rest, you need to go to a store that has kosher certification.